Celebrities Reveal Their Favorite Vintage Cars

Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Karl Lagerfeld, Naomi Watts, and others reveal the wheels they own or only dream of

On his way to be honored by God’s Love We Deliver at their annual fund-raiser, Michael Kors, who donated $5 million to the cause that night, explained, “I’m not a car guy, but maybe if I were a teenager on Long Island again—a Trans-Am with a big bow on the window.”

Portrait: Owen Hoffman/PatrickMcMullan.com

Pontiac Trans Am photo courtesy of GM

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With a touch of gray in his beard, Ben Affleck, attending the National Board of Review awards gala in New York (where he picked up a special-achievement award), had the ’70s on his mind. “I’m not Jay Leno by any means,” the director of Argo said. “Rather than buy the cars, I get obsessed with them on eBay. And I go through them all the time—I look at the Chevelles, all those great old ’70 muscle cars. I used to have a convertible Malibu. And when we first moved to California, my brother and I bought a ’72 Cadillac Sedan De Ville, which, for sentimental reasons, I still have, in storage. I love those cars, I love that era. That was really my time. Odd, because I really don’t remember any of it. ”

Portrait: David Crotty/PatrickMcMullan.com

Cadillac De Ville photo courtesy of GM

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At Fashion Group International’s Night of Stars I saw actress Sarah Jessica Parker, who had on a colorful ribbon-striped dress by designer L’Wren Scott, whom she was honoring with an award that night. “My son [James Wilkie Broderick] is very, very into muscle cars from the ’70s,” said Parker. “But I’m a fan of Karmann Ghias.”

Portrait: Owen Hoffman/PatrickMcMullan.com

Karmann Ghia photo courtesy of Volkswagen

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Model Brooklyn Decker, married to retired tennis pro Andy Roddick, now owns her car of choice. “It’s a 1973 Ford Bronco,” she told AD at the God’s Love We Deliver Golden Heart Awards. “I just bought it this year, and I’ve wanted one ever since I can remember. It’s Carolina-blue,” said the native Tar Heel. “I cruise around in it every chance I get—I feel really cool in it.”

Portrait: Owen Hoffman/PatrickMcMullan.com

Ford Bronco photo courtesy of Motorcar Studio, Atlanta

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As he was heading into the Center for Women’s Reproductive Rights Inaugural Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center, actor Stanley Tucci, seen here with his wife, Felicity Blunt, mentioned he’s also not really a car guy. But that he did once fall in love with a Bugatti race car: “I saw it in a warehouse. It was gray, I think, stunning. It was a piece of sculpture. Whether it could move or not, I really didn’t care.”

Karolina Kurkova related that she once owned a car that most men drool over. “I actually had a Porsche from 1961, very similar to the one James Dean had [the 550 Spyder],” said Kurkova. “It was beautiful. But I never actually drove it, because it was in restoration for years. It’s tough to have old cars—they need so much work!”

Photo: Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com

Spyder photo courtesy of Porsche

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At FGI’s Night of Stars, designer Karl Lagerfeld, with a tall starched white collar, short gloves, and dark glasses, looked as if he was properly attired to pilot a classic auto. “I love old Duesenbergs,” he replied. “There is nothing more beautiful than a Duesenberg.”

At the BAFTA Tea Party honoring Golden Globes nominees, actor Bradley Cooper paused for a moment on the red carpet to reflect. “I’d like a ’65 Mustang, because my dad had one,” he said.

Portrait: David Crotty/PatrickMcMullan.com

Mustang photo courtesy of Ford

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The last siren to arrive at the Plaza Hotel for Bergdorf Goodman’s 111th anniversary fête, glamorous British singer Rita Ora, had on a spectacular long white dress by Peter Dundas for Pucci, with a train that spilled to the ground. “I’d probably just want an old-school Cadillac,” noted Ora.

Australian actress Naomi Watts, who wore a blouse from Target to the company’s 50th-anniversary gala in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, said that she would love to have an AMI Rambler from the ’70s. “I had a friend ten years ago who had one,” explained Watts, who will play Princess Diana in an upcoming biopic. “I loved it. It’s a big tank of a car.”

Portrait: Sylvain Gaboury/PatrickMcMullan.com

AMI Rambler photo courtesy of Chrysler

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Musician Josh Groban, also at the Target fête, replied that he would like to own “a 1968 Mercedes SL or an early ’70s convertible SL, in navy-blue with a tan interior. With those kinds of cars, the harder you drive them, the better they drive,” said Groban. “Of course, I don’t drive at all in New York City, but it might be nice just to have one in a garage somewhere.”

Portrait: Sylvain Gaboury/PatrickMcMullan.com

SL photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

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At the Bergdorf Goodman event, designer Derek Lam referred to a “1963 Lincoln Continental with suicide doors, the most chic car ever made. At the first shoot I ever did with my clothing, we used that car,” he explained.

Martha Stewart, at the Bergdorf Goodman anniversary event, said that her favorite vintage vehicle was her Ford Edsel. “I have a pink-and-white two-door 1958 Edsel station wagon,” she said. “And I keep it in Maine at my Edsel Ford house.” (Yes, Martha Stewart confirmed that her Maine getaway was previously owned by Edsel Ford, the son of Ford founder Henry Ford.) “My daughter gave the car to me as a joke,” she related. “But I love it. We drive it to town, and I wonder why people are looking at me. It’s a great car with a push-button transmission, well before its time.”

Portrait: Nicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com

Edsel photo courtesy of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

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Also at the Bergdorf Goodman event, Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli arrived on the arm of supermodel Karoline Kurkova. “I have one very nice vintage car—a Ferrari Daytona from 1970,” Cavalli said. “I have a guy who goes there every week to check on it. It’s like my baby.”

Designer Carolina Herrera, who took home an FGI Superstar award at the Night of Stars, mentioned that she’d had some rather elegant cars over the years. “I had an old Mercedes-Benz cabriolet, black and red—it was very beautiful,” she said. “And I also had the Mercedes Gullwing, which was amazing. I drove it myself. Reinaldo [her husband] is tall, but he could fit into it.”

Portrait: Owen Hoffman/PatrickMcMullan.com

Gullwing photo courtesy of Mercedez-Benz

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Designer Jonathan Adler’s car of choice? At Donna Karan’s Connecting the Dots affair, Adler, seen here with his husband, Simon Doonan, told AD, “I’m going to go with the obvious—a Jaguar E-Type. It doesn’t get more beautiful, more attenuated, or more powerful than that. In general, I find guys in sports cars a little embarrassing, but the Jaguar E-Type? I would rock that hard.”

At a luncheon for the Princess Grace Foundation at Restaurant Daniel, HRH Princess Firyal of Jordan, after complimenting my tie and fixing my collar, spoke of a Bugatti that caught her eye. “My brother-in-law [the late King Hussein of Jordan] had a collection of great old cars, and he had a Bugatti as beautiful as a bride,” she said. “If you’re interested in vintage cars, you must come and visit the Royal Automobile Museum in Jordan.”

On the red carpet at the HBO debut of the second season of Girls, supermodel Paulina Porizkova was standing next to her rocker husband, Ric Ocasek, legendary lead singer of the Cars. A vehicle she particularly loves? “Him,” she said, laughing, “my husband, Ric!”

Portrait: Jimi Celeste/PatrickMcMullan.com

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At the inaugural A Night of New York Class gala, actress Pamela Anderson (shown with photographer Terry Richardson), there in support of the organization NYCLASS, which is working to pass a ban on the use of carriage horses and replacing them with electric autos, told AD that she exclusively drives vintage cars. “I only have old Range Rovers and an old International Harvester Scout from the ’60s,” she said. “And yes, Scouts are fun.”

Portrait: Andreas Branch/PatrickMcMullan.com

International Harvester Scout photo: Dutchtower/Wikimedia Commons

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Also at the Plaza, fashion designer Olivier Theyskens was amused when asked about his vintage car of choice. “That’s very funny,” he said, laughing, “because my grandfather kept all of these old Ladas [a popular Russian car during the Soviet years], which was the worst car possible, but still kind of cool. And I played in them all the time when I was a child. They were abandoned in a field. But now I’d love to have an old American car, an old Pontiac or Chrysler . . . but I have no driver’s license.”

Fashion designer Peter Som, also at the Plaza, had a sob story about his classic car. “I actually had an ’89 Mercedes two-seater, and it was white, so I felt very Alexis Carrington Colby,” he said, referring to the oft-married character from Dynasty played by Joan Collins. “But I sold it.” And what does Som drive today? “I hail a cab,” he said.

Portrait: Paul Bruinooge/PatrickMcMullan.com

Car photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

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At the God’s Love We Deliver event was Bette Midler, who also mentioned a Mercedes. “An old Mercedes sports car, maybe 1952 or 1953,” she said. “I knew a director in Rome, Franco Brusati, who had one. It was a blue convertible, and it was the most beautiful thing. My husband and I almost fainted when we saw it.”

Portrait: Patrick McMullan/PatrickMcMullan.com

Car photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

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On his way into the Princess Grace Foundation Awards at Cipriani 42nd Street, astronaut Buzz Aldrin had on a shiny silver-metal bow tie. “Before all the space travel, I had a lot of fun driving a little powder-blue Austin Healey Sprite, maybe ’58,” Aldrin recalled. “I drove it around Germany, put it on a ship, and drove it around California. And then I drove it to MIT and back.”

Photo: Jimi Celeste/PatrickMcMullan.com

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The Inquisitive Guest caught up with comedian and actor Rob Riggle (2012’s 21 Jump Street) at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, where automotive glories of the past gave way to the design of the future. “I just saw the new Tesla Model S—it’s purely electric. It’s like a sedan, but the most beautiful car you’ve ever seen. It has a big beautiful touch screen. It’s gorgeous. That would be the car.”

“The Tesla,” agreed actress Olivia Munn. “It’s earth-friendly, and it looks like it’s from the future.”

“I’d like to get the new Tesla sedan,” director Judd Apatow later chimed in on the red carpet at the Golden Globes with his wife, actress Leslie Mann.